Fairly Lost
by Ian-the-Lame
Summary: After being kicked out of a meeting, Prince Ranmaru ventures too deep into the cherry blossom grove and has a lost fairy follow him home. AU. Can be read as slash (shounen-ai) or just friendship,


_For Crystalized Flowers, who knows that if you want a (Super) rare pair in this small fandom, you usually have to write them yourself_

 ** _A/N: I don't even know! My brain said one thing and my screen says another._**

 ** _SK_**

 _Fairly Lost_

Frustrated, Prince Ranmaru slammed his bedroom door shut. He kicked off his nice shiny boots, sending one flying across the room. He was almost old enough to succeed his father and take the throne, but yet again his old man had forced him away from a negotiations meeting. Apparently, the last time he and Premafrost's prince, Camus met they had done nothing but argue, which but a small bit of tense on the alliance they were trying to form. It wasn't like it was Ranmaru's fault. He didn't want to listen for hours on end how he should be more princely.

There was no way he was going to listen to that guy. That guy with his piercing blue stare, his light frost-like skin, and long blonde hair. He was like walking perfection. And people who were perfect would never- no, could never understand people who weren't perfect.

Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that he had been kicked out of the meeting. Sure he was mad, he had every right to be in that room knowing what was going to happen to his country. But at the same time, this gave him a chance at freedom. He could seldom slip away from the palace to venture into the great city of Tokyo that his father ruled over with an iron fist.

So he shifted off his royal attire and slipped into something less conspicuous. One last glance back at his door, to make sure completely alone before he bent down a retrieving a small metal box from under his bed. The tattered jeans and black shirt were nothing for a maid or other servant to worry about. More often than not he would wear jeans and a tee-shirt around the castle when he knew there would be no unwanted guests. But this box was something different entirely. The contents of it were only two things. A silver wig and a single purple contact. Now if he were ever caught and asked about it, he would claim that having only one purple eye was cool, but in truth the first time he had left the palace after getting these necessary items, he had lost one. He had only been a child of the age of ten and two at that point. But it didn't matter, as long as he had the silver wig to hide away his chocolate brown locks it was unlikely he would be discovered.

He slipped the contact into place, adding color to his right eye, and wig under his arm. That could wait until he was out of the small hole in the wall. The hole that was hidden by the thorny rosebush. The plant that he always managed to scratch himself on. But what were a few scratches compared to seeing the people of Tokyo? To be among them, not as their prince, but as another person. When he was out there he was just another commoner. One day he would rule over Tokyo in his father's stead, so he should know how those people lived. It was his duty to make sure that he was doing what was right for his people.

Or so he told himself. Sure that was probably a big part of it. But the smaller part of him just wanted to be free of the chains that came with being royalty. For him, his home was a cage with an open door. But at the same time, he was a bird with clipped wings. There was always the option of leaving through the front gates, but then he would just be Prince Ranmaru Kurosaki.

* * *

If there was one sight that Ranmaru loved to see it would have to be the cherry blossoms. He loved walking among the untamed cherry trees, watching their petals fly through the air like pink snow. It seemed like they could stretch on forever. It wasn't too far from the palace that a grove of them grew. But like all good things, after a while the cherry trees became sparse and dark oak filled in, leading to the northern forest that separated Tokyo from Premafrost. He had heard that the dark oak went on for miles and miles, days and day until it reached a grove of Mimosa trees. But on the other side was snowy, and the home of the cold but beautiful Silk Palace. He guessed that they only called it the silk palace because of the beautiful silk trees that kept them safe from the dark woods.

Ranmaru had never been there, but he talked to commoners who travel between the bordering countries for work. The Silk Palace stood tall, taller than his own palace, like a giant white icicle. Or so the travelers claimed. He doubted he would ever go there.

"Young man." Someone behind him called.

His breath caught in his throat as he turned. To his surprise, he turned to see a familiar redhead with browned skin. He couldn't help the small, almost non-existent, grin that began to spread across his face. "Saotome."

Shining Saotome was one traveler that he talked to. The older man as an ailing wife and two young children. He, more often than no, took his merchandise over to Premafrost to sell and left his oldest son to tend to his shop in Tokyo.

"What are you doing so far back in the cherry grove, boy?" He asked, hands holding woven baskets.

"I didn't realize how far back I was. Is there a problem?"

The older man just sighed heavily at him. "Don't your parents teach ya nothing? The dark oak patch houses this frightening evil spirit. Come on away from there before ya get yourself cursed."

An urban legend. The dark woods fairy was somewhat well known. According to people from both Premafrost and Tokyo that once the silk or cherry trees grow sparse there is a figure that lurks in the darkness of the oak trees.

"I don't believe in that kind of thing." He sniffed at the air, moving away from the dark woods and making his way next to the man. "Then what are you doing here?"

Saotome stiffened. "I was on my way back home when I thought that it would be nice to see the blossoms."

They turned and walked away, talking about Saotome's travels, what he had sold, and various other stupid did glance back behind him as they left. He didn't believe in a mythical being just living in those woods. So he had no trouble walking away, leaving both the cherry trees and the urban legend behind in favor of something that was real. Something that mattered.

* * *

"So you don't believe in me?"

Those words had Ranmaru bolting up. He had yet again fallen asleep at his desk. As a prince, he had many duties to attend to, especially after vanishing for the better part of the day. Honestly speaking, he was the kind of person who could fall asleep anywhere, because he did so when he had the chance. So at first, he thought those words were probably part of a dream that he was having. But as he rubbed his half-lidded eyes, he noticed he wasn't the only one in his room.

Sitting in the bay window sat a pale, so pale he was almost translucent, man. His bright shoulder length cyan hair reflecting the moon's glow making it seem brighter than it already was. If he were wearing shoes, he would have been dressed from head to toe in white.

Ranmaru's eyes widened. How in the world had he gotten in? His window was on the second floor, and he had pulled the rope he used to escape back up into his room, stashing it as far back in his closet as he could get. "Who are you? How did you get in here?"

The male tilted his head. "I am Ai." Was all he said.

"Ai? Okay, but who are you?"

"I am Ai."

Searching for anything he could use as a weapon, Ranmaru asked. "Okay... What are you?" Since asking who was getting him nowhere.

"I am the fairy of the dark woods."

The brown haired prince frowned. "Oh, I get it. This is some kind of big joke, isn't it? Look, I don't know how you figured out who I am, and I don't care, but you have ten seconds to leave before I call the guards."

"You won't call the guards." He sounded so sure of himself.

"What makes you think that?"

"If you truly intended to have them come and get me, you won't have asked who I was twice. In fact, you should have called them the moment you realized I was in here with you but didn't."

"Well, that was..."

"You thought you were dreaming." Ai, or so he claimed to be, finished for him. "I can assure you, this is not a dream."

Ranmaru's brow furrowed. "Then why are you here? Just to prove me wrong."

"... No."

"Then why?"

"I wanted you to believe in me." He said, shifting. "I know it's illogical to believe in something you have been old is a myth."

"Then why ask?"

He didn't answer. He just sat there watching the prince with cyan blue eyes as he waited for the prince to do something, anything. However, Ranmaru did nothing. He simply waited for the 'fairy' to do something and fell asleep in the process. When he woke up the next morning Ai was gone, the window was firmly shut. As if nothing had happened.

However, he knew that it did.

One occasion wasn't enough to make Ranmaru believe. But two months straight was another story. And sometimes Ai didn't even wait until he was asleep, he climbed through the window. There would be times, in the middle of the day, that he just appear in the prince's room.

"What do you want from me?" Ranmaru shouted at him.

"I enjoy watching you." He said. "I have never been able to watch a human so closely before."

"You say that as if you weren't human."

"I am not." He nodded. "I am what you humans call a fairy."

"And what is a fairy?"

"I do not know."

Ranmaru frowned. He was saying that he was something but didn't know what he was. How could he not know what he was? "So you don't know what you are?"

"I know what I am called. Is that not enough?"

"I guess maybe if you're an idiot." He huffed. "You're probably just a lost little kid that have been lost in those woods. I knew there was no such thing as a fairy haunting those woods."

"If that is what you believe." Ai frowned. He turned to leave.

"Wait!" Ranmaru scrambled for him, barely catching his arm. "Maybe you should just stay here. I'm sure we can find your family."

"What makes you so sure I have a family to find?"

"Because you're just a lost kid. And it's my duty as Prince of Tokyo to help you."

"If that's what you think."

"Don't worry." Ranmaru pulled him into a hug. His silver eyes glancing around the room. "Until I find your family I will stay with you."

"I don't understand your desire to help me. You don't even know if I have a family."

The prince pushed him away. His face reddened, whether it be from the embarrassing thing he was going to say or the anger he felt that was evident in his voice as he yelled. "Then I will aways stay with you!"


End file.
